Argerich & Shani & Rotterdam Philharmonic
The return of Martha Argerich, the Prague Spring debut of Lahav Shani and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in works by Schumann, Brahms and Johan Wagenaar
Programme
- Johan Wagenaar: Cyrano de Bergerac op. 23, overture
- Robert Schumann: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor Op. 54
- Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major Op. 73
Performers
- Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
- Lahav Shani – conductor
- Martha Argerich – piano
“There is the most complete accord between us… It is not his youth that attracts me: not, perhaps, my flattered vanity. No, it is the fresh mind, the gloriously gifted nature, the noble heart, that I love in him.” This is one of Clara Schumann’s diary entries, however, she is not referring to her husband Robert, but to their mutual friend Johannes Brahms. The programme for the concert given by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra celebrates these three superb 19th century artists, who were united by love, respect and “divine talent”. Nevertheless, a surprise awaits the audience at the start of the concert – in the form of a piece that is virtually unknown in the Czech Republic, the overture Cyrano de Bergerac by Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar (1862–1941), a work reminiscent of the great Romantic scores of Richard Strauss. And this will be a special Prague Spring evening in other respects as well. After an incredible fifty-two years, the festival welcomes back Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich, and standing on the Prague Spring rostrum for the first time will be 36-year-old Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam, Israel and Munich Philharmonics, Lahav Shani.
In January 1839, eighteen months before her wedding, Clara wrote to her future husband: “Don’t take it amiss if I tell you that I’ve been seized by the desire to encourage you to write for orchestra. Your imagination and your spirit are too great for the weak piano.” Thus, with Clara’s support, Robert Schumann (1810–1856) entered one of his most productive periods, which ended in 1845 with the composition of his only piano concerto, in many respects a unique piece of writing. Using the Italian spelling, Schumann incorporated the name of his great love and defender, “ChiArA”, into the oboe solo in the first movement; Clara was also the soloist at the work’s premiere in Dresden on 4 December 1845. At the Prague Spring the solo part will be performed by Martha Argerich, the “enigmatic goddess of the piano,” as she was described in 2025 by The New York Times. It’s interesting to note that she is returning to the festival with this particular programme: In 1972 she played Schumann’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in A minor with the Prague Symphony Orchestra under conductor Ladislav Slovák.
Martha Argerich sat at the piano for the first time in her native Buenos Aires and, as is often the case with child prodigies, it wasn’t long before she was giving concerts. She moved to Europe in 1955, where she continued her studies in London, Vienna and Switzerland; her teachers included Friedrich Gulda and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. In 1957 she won the competitions in Bolzano and Geneva when she was only sixteen, and in 1965 she was the outright winner of the International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw. At the age of twenty-four she thus became one of the most highly sought-after and most popular pianists on the planet. She worked with Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim and a host of other major conducting names. She has won numerous awards for her recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Sony, Philips and Teldec, among them a Grammy and the title Artist of the Year bestowed upon her by Gramophone magazine. The oeuvre of Robert Schumann has always been an important part of her repertoire, and she has performed his Piano Concerto countless times during her long career. We could mention her two interpretations with the Berlin Philharmonic under conductors Daniel Barenboim and Riccardo Chailly, her recent concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Antonio Pappano, and the recordings with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under Riccardo Chailly or the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) worked on his first symphony for fourteen years, while the second took him five months and, as was his custom, here, too, he kept his cards close to his chest regarding the progress of his composition work. He wrote the following to his publisher: “It will at all events be a proper fiasco, and people will say that, this time, I took it easy. The new symphony is so melancholy that you won’t stand it.” Yet the opposite is true. Thanks to its bright, sonorous key of D major and the wealth of colourful, lyrical themes, the Second Symphony is one of Brahms’s brightest and most optimistic works – “it is all blue sky, babbling of streams, sunshine and cool green shade,” as the composer’s friend Theodor Billroth characterised it. The popular work was part of the repertoire of perhaps all the great conductors of the 20th century, among them Arturo Toscanini, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado. It will be fascinating to hear the work performed by the next generation of musicians, represented, for example, by Israeli conductor and pianist Lahav Shani, since 2018 the Chief Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2020 he also assumed the post of Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic which, fifty years previously, was filled by Zubin Mehta, and from this season onwards he is likewise Chief Conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. Shani gave his debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in June 2016 and his appointment was announced a mere two months later. He thus became the youngest Chief Conductor in the orchestra’s 108-year history. “It was a performance quite unlike any other,” stated The Guardian, writing about the debut of the then 27-year-old artist. “Shani, like his mentor Daniel Barenboim, is a wonderful pianist as well as conductor, and in this instance played the concerto himself, directing his orchestra from the keyboard… It proved to be a tour de force that bordered on staggering. […] the detailed beauty of the Rotterdam orchestra’s playing spoke volumes.” His recent and forthcoming engagements include appearances with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras.
The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra is celebrated both on the Dutch and international scenes for its energetic interpretation and innovative approach towards the kind of projects and community programmes it offers its audiences. During the 1930s the ensemble’s progress was largely credited to Chief Conductor Eduard Flipse, while its international renown was cemented during the eras of Jean Fournet and Edo de Waart in the 1970s. A key period in its development occurred with the arrival of Valery Gergiev in 1995, who was followed in the years 2008–2018 by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The orchestra’s home is the De Doelen concert hall in Rotterdam, while the RPO also appears regularly in numerous prestigious world venues, such as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, where it assumes the role of Orchestra-in-Residence. Annually it plays to audiences of up to 200,000 people, many of whom are younger listeners, thanks to the orchestra’s various educational programmes. In addition to its commitments on the concert platform, the ensemble also has a fascinating and varied discography, from Eduard Flipse’s pioneering Mahler recordings to new albums released by Deutsche Grammophon, EMI and Virgin Classics.
